50 YEARS in 50 PHOTOS

 
 
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1971

Earliest photo of Lamb’s Players first Street Theatre show THE HOUND OF EVERYMAN. The non-profit organization grows out of Steve Terrell’s drama class at Bethel College in St. Paul, MN

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1972

Lamb’s Players first touring bus “Ox” (for oxidation) in the Minnesota snow. Realizing the season for Street Theatre was short in the upper Midwest, the young company, including founders Steve & Elza Terrell and Glen “Herbie” Hansen, moves to San Diego

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1973

Street Theatre rehearsal in the Terrell’s front yard in Spring Valley

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1974

Chris Turner starts Quimby Company a touring puppet troupe that is a huge hit with college students

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1975

HARK! THE ARK! Street Theatre’s second production mesmerizes crowds of students with its stunning set erected on the campus quad. Lamb’s Players Street Theatre is now touring nationally to Colleges, Prisons & Renaissance Faires.

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1976

Kerry Meads (then Olson) working the stocks at a Renaissance Faire. Robert Smyth also joins the company this year with a vision to build a resident repertory theatre

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1977

A mighty motley crew! Lamb’s Players has 6 touring troupes on the road - Street Theatre, Puppets, Mime, Dance, Juggling & Magic, and a Song & Story duo

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1978

Lamb’s Players Theatre opens as the company’s first resident stage, an intimate theatre-in-the-round, on Plaza Blvd in National City

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1979

This year sees Deborah Gilmour and David & Liz McFadzean join the company. Pictured here in the Readers Theatre troupe started by Rick Parker

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1980

Lamb’s Players Mime Troupe, started in 1974 as “Hands & Feet,” won numerous awards in competitions up and down the West Coast

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1981

Steve & Elza Terrell move their family north to Sonora, CA in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Robert Smyth becomes the company’s Artistic Director and David McFadzean its Managing Director & President

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1982

A vibrant production of the musical GODSPELL becomes the theatre’s first Sold Out hit

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1983

David McFadzean’s first original script DEEP RIVER. One of 7 diverse plays & musicals written by McFadzean that Lamb’s has premiered

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1984

Robert Smyth & Deborah Gilmour play Petruchio & Kate in a very fun and moving THE TAMING OF THE SHREW that closes its run a week before their own wedding

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1985

LAMB’S PLAYERS FESTIVAL OF CHRISTMAS, started in 1978, has become an annual tradition for thousands of individuals & families. “The Tradition That’s Different Each Year” with a new script by Kerry Meads, different music and a different cast each December

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1986

The last year of Street Theatre, and the start of our Educational Outreach, touring shows on critical issues facing students - from drug abuse to bullying - to schools across SoCal (‘93 & ‘94 Touring Company pictured)

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1987

DAMIEN, Robert Smyth as Damien de Veuster, the “Leper Priest of Molokai.” This tour de force performance was to have numerous productions and tours over a 30 year period

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1988

Lamb’s adaptation of THE BOOK OF THE DUN COW by Walter Wangerin. The LA Times calls it a “rediscovery of the power of the imagination in theatre”

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1989

JOSEPH & THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT. This massive hit starts the search for a larger theatre space

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1990

Lamb’s Players starts mounting 1 to 4 additional productions per year at the Lyceum Theatres in Horton Plaza. This continues for 17 years

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1991

Tom Key’s adaptation of Clarence Jordan’s book THE COTTON PATCH GOSPEL, with music by Harry Chapin, is such a hit we will present it multiple times over the years

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1992

Our Sold Out production of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD with David Heath as Aticus and his daughter Carrie as Scout has a sudden additional relevance during the Rodney King trial

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1993

BOOMERS, the music of a generation, an original production by Kerry Meads and Vanda Eggington, would go on to have more performances than any other Lamb’s show

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1994

Lamb’s new resident theatre opens in the remodeled performing arts space in Coronado’s iconic 1917 Spreckels Building. Within a year Lamb’s had grown to be the region’s 3rd largest theatre company

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1995

AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS takes its patrons back 100 years for a memorable Feast & Celebration. It is held in the Ballroom of the Hotel del Coronado for 21 Decembers

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1996

In addition to musicals, comedies, dramas & new work, Lamb’s also takes a fresh look at classics, from Shakespeare and Marlow to this year’s production of Rostand’s CYRANO

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1997

Audiences were in the mood to laugh with this bright new production of the great American comedy YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU

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1998

Lamb’s is invited to perform at the C.S. Lewis Centennial Celebration in Oxford & Cambridge this year, including for an event at Blenheim Palace

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1999

Lamb’s adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel TILL WE HAVE FACES, commissioned for the Lewis Centennial Celebration, receives a stunning full stage production during the theatre’s 1999 Season

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2000

The premiere of JOYFUL NOISE by Tim Slover was a huge hit in San Diego in 1999. This year we took the fascinating story of the scandal that nearly prevented the London premiere of Handel’s “Messiah” to New York for an extended run off-Broadway

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2001

We Celebrate our 30th Year in Coronado’s grand Fourth of July Parade

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2002

This year’s rousing production of the musical 1776 is such a hit we bring it back the following summer at the Lyceum

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2003

Before there was “Barney Miller,” before there was ”Hill Street Blues,” there was Sidney Kingsley's DETECTIVE STORY. David Heath leads an award-winning ensemble

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2004

Lamb’s wild, riveting adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel THE GREAT DIVORCE

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2005

A pool on stage! For a mesmerizing regional premiere of Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of Ovid’s METAMORPHOSES

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2006

A wondrous INTO THE WOODS by Stephen Sondheim, on resident scenic designer Mike Buckley’s magical 2-dimensional “pop-out” set

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2007

An enchanting ENCHANTED APRIL with all the wit, beauty & reconciliation of this often overlooked gem of the theatre

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2008

Just 3 months before the start of the Great Recession LAMB’S takes on the revitalization & management of the Horton Grand Theatre in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. It will be our second theatre for 8 years

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2009

The Great Recession has people longing for a great comedy. We find it with ROOM SERVICE set during the Great Depression

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2010

The premiere of MIXTAPE, the Greatest Hits of the 80s, by company members Jon Lorenz & Colleen Kollar Smith, with director Kerry Meads. This rockin’ journey through the music, the dance and the memories of that most awesome decade runs at the Horton Grand Theatre for more than 3 years!

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2011

THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS, David McFadzean’s hilarious musical adaption of Goldoni‘s classic story, with an original score by Deborah Gilmour Smyth

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2012

“The Road Crew” Lamb’s Educational Touring Company begins performing its acclaimed anti-bullying show BASH! to schools all across San Diego County

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2013

Deborah Gilmour Smyth’s profound award-winning performance in Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize wining play WIT

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2014

LES MISERABLES! This fresh & powerful production garners 7 different Craig Noel Awards from the San Diego Critics Circle

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2015

FREUD’S LAST SESSION by Mark St. Germain is a fascinating evening with C.S. Lewis & Sigmund Freud. Fran Gercke & Robert Smyth’s performances are such a hit it has 3 different runs in 2 different theatres this year

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2016

The amazing band for AMERICAN RHYTHM includes Lamb’s longtime House Band members Rik Ogden, David Rumley & Oliver Shirley. Kerry Meads & Vanda Eggington first developed this celebration of 100 years of America’s music in 2000

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2017

THE EXPLORERS CLUB, Nell Benjamin’s wild, witty & wise comedy is an hysterical knockout with a killer cast

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2018

The regional premiere of the Irish musical ONCE. A huge, huge hit with a cast of fabulous quadruple-threats - actor, singer, dancer, musicians

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2019

A JEWEL IN THE CROWN CITY, a fantastic 2-month musical celebration of LAMB’S 25 Years in Coronado

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2020

The West Coast premiere of BABETTE’S FEAST, a delicious adaptation of Isak Dinesen’s mesmerizing story of Grace, Gratitude & an artist’s Callling

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And then…

An empty theatre is part of the community fight of COVID-19